Author Topic: Greetings from Sonoma County, California  (Read 4150 times)

Offline finewino

  • Medium Cheese
  • ***
  • Posts: 25
  • Cheeses: 5
Greetings from Sonoma County, California
« on: January 16, 2009, 03:44:40 AM »
Howdy,
 
I'm Tom and I live in the Russian River area in Sonoma County.  I have been making cheese for a few months short of a year.  I've been making a lot of cheese...I was getting raw milk every week for several months but Bella's dried up to breed again now.  I recently stepped up to bigger cheeses and just pressed a 5 lb Manchego earlier this week (learning to use commercial milk again, too.)
 
Holidays were fun as I got to share a lot of my cheese with old and new friends.
 
I also make wine and cook a lot.  The only currently active hobby that doesn't have anything to do with eating or drinking is golf.
 
This looks like a great community and resource.  Thanks to Dave (Likespace) for showing the way here.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2009, 05:56:11 AM by FineWino »
Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.  -John Kenneth Galbraith

saycheese

  • Guest
Re: Greetings from Somona County, California
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2009, 04:17:38 AM »
Welcome Tom,

I'm from Martinez, CA.  You will find other fellow California cheesemakers here as well.  Everyone here has some great experiences to share.

Offline Cartierusm

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,874
  • Cheeses: 21
Re: Greetings from Somona County, California
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2009, 05:26:23 AM »
Hi, Tom. Now that we've been formally introduced....

Cheese Head

  • Guest
Re: Greetings from Sonoma County, California
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2009, 11:36:35 AM »
Hello Tom/FineWino & welcome to the forum, looking forwad to your advice, any ideas on how to make the website and forum better just PM or email me :)!

Captain Caprine

  • Guest
Re: Greetings from Sonoma County, California
« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2009, 03:10:38 PM »
Hi Tom,
I'm down the road between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay.  I have a similar problem as I am preparing to dry off my goats in about a month or so.  I dread buying milk to make my cheese although when you put in the time and expense it takes to get good raw milk the store bought stuff will be cheep ;D.
Welcome to the board
CC

Tea

  • Guest
Re: Greetings from Sonoma County, California
« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2009, 09:54:32 PM »
Hi Tom and welcome to the forum.  Hope you can post some of your cheese trials.

Likesspace

  • Guest
Re: Greetings from Sonoma County, California
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2009, 05:16:43 PM »
Tom, glad you showed up.
Really good board here (really active) and lots of good advice from helpful people.

Dave

LadyLiberty

  • Guest
Re: Greetings from Sonoma County, California
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2009, 09:28:21 PM »
Hi Tom,
I'm down the road between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay.  I have a similar problem as I am preparing to dry off my goats in about a month or so.  I dread buying milk to make my cheese although when you put in the time and expense it takes to get good raw milk the store bought stuff will be cheep ;D.
Welcome to the board
CC

You live right near that big goat farm don't you?  We're neighbors!  I'm in Santa Cruz.


LadyLiberty

  • Guest
Re: Greetings from Sonoma County, California
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2009, 09:31:01 PM »
Welcome, FineWino, looks like there are a lot of us Californians here.  Best source of storebought milk I've found is the organic line of Clover Stornetta.  The cows come from where you live too.  They draw from MANY family farms in your area and the dairy is switching to solar power.

You are probably already familiar with them, but they seem like a nice dairy.

Offline Cartierusm

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,874
  • Cheeses: 21
Re: Greetings from Sonoma County, California
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2009, 10:12:02 PM »
LL, good another Cali Girl, I'm in SF, my GF went to UCSC. I'm a big clover fan as I used to live in Sonoma County but I've never used it for cheese, but will try it based on your recommendation. I've never used it as it's so expensive compared to other milks. At whole foods it's $4 a gallon. Right now I'm using Bayview Farms from Luckys which was suggested by SayCheese who is in Martinez, I think. I'll try clover next time.

Captain Caprine

  • Guest
Re: Greetings from Sonoma County, California
« Reply #10 on: January 25, 2009, 10:35:05 PM »
Lady Liberty
I assume you are talking about Harley Farms.  They are just down the road towards town about 3 miles away.  Great cheese and great neighbors!
CC

Offline Cartierusm

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,874
  • Cheeses: 21
Re: Greetings from Sonoma County, California
« Reply #11 on: January 25, 2009, 10:47:20 PM »
Captain, woud they sell me Goat Milk?

Captain Caprine

  • Guest
Re: Greetings from Sonoma County, California
« Reply #12 on: January 25, 2009, 11:34:10 PM »
Carter,
You could call but I doubt they have any extra with the production schedule they keep up. Great place; you should take the tour some day. Here is the link to their site.  http://www.harleyfarms.com/
CC

Offline Cartierusm

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,874
  • Cheeses: 21
Re: Greetings from Sonoma County, California
« Reply #13 on: January 25, 2009, 11:35:49 PM »
Thanks I'll do that.

LadyLiberty

  • Guest
Re: Greetings from Sonoma County, California
« Reply #14 on: January 26, 2009, 12:06:29 AM »
Captain, woud they sell me Goat Milk?


If they can't, Carter, there is a farmer in Boulder Creek who can, his name is Jim Nelson and I was going to get goat milk from him this coming weekend.  Here's his website:

http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M1

I haven't gotten any from him yet, but he seems like a really nice guy!